White House meeting set for Friday (Cuba)

[Say_What]

Pander, pander, pander. Anyone's guess as to what kind of Draconian measures they'll dream up to further terrorize Cuba.

<clips>

More than 100 Cuban Americans are expected to convene in Washington on Friday for a meeting with White House officials on Cuba policy.

Details of the meeting are sketchy but several of the invited guests said that national security advisor Condoleezza Rice is expected to announce the creation of a Presidential Cuba Transition Commission.

Among the invited guests are local Republican-elected leaders who signed their names to a letter to President Bush in August urging him to make changes to Cuba policy.

The letter echoed the message some Cuban-American leaders have delivered recently to Bush: Get tougher on Cuban President Fidel Castro or risk losing Cuban-American support in the 2004 election.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/6967481.htm

[FlashHarry]

1. Kick

[9215]

3. I'd like to know the names of the exiles going to the

meeting. Then cross check them with previous Bushie and Repug scandals and skullduggery.

The link didn't work, real slow connection.

[Say_What]

4. I thought the same thing. It looks like the moderates (anti-embargo)

are left out all together and that's a concern to me.

Links seems to be working; here it is again.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/6967481.htm

[9215]

12. There are some real sleazebags from this exile community.

One of them was Felix Rodriguez aka Max Gomez who was Battista's right hand man. He went to work for the CIA and was involved in running down Che Guevera. in Iran-contra. When he was nabbed the first person he called was Poppy Bush. Lots of drug running and murder for hire types. Rodriguez was also linked to a guy named Posada who was very close to Santos Trafficante who is suspected of being involved in the JFK hit.

I really want to find out who is meeting with Bush Admin. It could be real interesting.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Have you seen the photo of Felix Rodriguez with Che Guevara

after they ambushed him in Bolivia?

{center]


Check this site for a photo of Felix Rodriguez sitting with former President Bush. For some reason, the photo won't transfer to this post:
http://www.noveltynet.org/content/paranormal/www.parascope.com/ds/papertrail/papertrail0498.htm#bush



Felix Rodruguez


Anyone interested in learning more about a CIA terrorist, do a simple search. I believe he was also involved with the Watergate Cuban "Plumbers," if I'm not mistaken.

[9215]

14. Hadn't seen those pics

thanks. I'd really like to know what Max/Felix knows about the JfK hit. The Cubans have been seething since the Bay of Pigs/Operation Zapata and their anger was directed at Kennedy originally.

[Say_What]

24. Bush letter to Felix Rodriguez

these things have a tendency to move around the web. Seems like they're in a different location every time I hunt for them. ;-)

1988 Christmas letter to Rodriguez:
<http://www.noveltynet.org/content/paranormal/www.parascope.com/ds/papertrail/felixNote.htm>

and a photo of Felix and Poppy chillin in the WH.

<>

[9215]

37. That's a keeper.

[Judi Lynn]

40. You really have to wonder where the Bushes would be now

if it weren't for the usefulness of the Cuban "exiles" like Felix Rodriguez:

(snip) 1968–1973. With Richard Nixon in the White House, Antonin Scalia in charge of the White House communications office, and George H.W. Bush heading the Republican National Committee, the Republicans maintain close ties to right-wing Florida Cubans. Bebe Rebozo, a prominent Florida Cuban with intelligence ties, is a close friend of Nixon. In 1971, journalist Ken Collier calls on Nixon to investigate 1970 Florida election fraud by Republicans. Scalia persuades Nixon to remain silent, Collier alleges.

1973. The Watergate Break-In is conducted by anti-Castro Cubans and CIA agents tied to the Bay of Pigs: Rodriguez, Bernard Barker (former Cuban secret police), Frank Sturgis, E. Howard Hunt, and Eugenio Rolando Martinez. Nixon tapes reveal that the objective is to hide evidence regarding "Dallas" and "the Bay of Pigs thing." Bush assists Nixon in the coverup, and the stonewalling of the Congress.

* 1976. CIA Director George H.W. Bush stonewalls Congress regarding the aerial bombing of a Cubana Airline jet and a car bomb slaying of a Chilean diplomat. Anti-Castro Cubans are arrested, including Luis Carriles. Carriles' immediate superior is Felix Rodriguez (who boasts to have assassinated Che Guevara).

During the Bush CIA years, the loyal Rodriguez is involved with the Phoenix program, Air America, and heroin smuggling in Southeast Asia.

1982–1986. Iran-Contra. With Vice President Bush "in the loop" with CIA Director William Casey and other members of the Reagan "firewall," Felix Rodriguez coordinates the contra resupply program in El Salvador under Oliver North. In Senate testimony, Rodriguez alleges to have passed ten million dollars to the contras from the Colombian Medellin cocaine cartel. In Florida, Jeb Bush (the head of the Dade County Republican Party) operates as the Republican administration's unofficial link with Cubans, the contras and Nicaraguan exiles in Miami. During this period, Jeb aligns with Leonel Martinez, a Miami-based right-wing Cuban-American drug trafficker associated with contra dissident Eden Pastora. Jeb forges business ties with contra supporter Miguel Recarey, a right-wing Cuban, and major contributor to PACs controlled by then-Vice President Bush.

Florida-based drug-running fronts funnel US government funds as humanitarian aid to the contras. Senator John Kerry investigates Miami-based Ocean Hunter, one of many Florida-based drug-running fronts, and discovers $200,000 channeled south.

1986. Reagan appoints Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. At his confirmation hearing, Ken and James Collier accuse Scalia of sandbagging their lawsuits against the Republican National Committee for election fraud in Florida.
(snip/...)

http://members.tripod.com/~reno4governor/index-62.html

The photo of Felix Rodriguez hanging out in the White House with Bush, after he had been involved in the Watergate break-in for Nixon is WAY, WAY TOO MUCH.

[9215]

15. Here is some stuff on Posada, Rodriguez, Trafficante and CANF

Is this the group going to meet Bush?
I cannot get the Miami Herald link above for some reason.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/posada/posada-decades.htm
........Basing himself on a series of declassified secret documents, Meldon
bravely describes Posada Carriles’ relationship with the late Jorge
Mas Canosa, founder and leader of the Cuban American National
Foundation (CANF) and frequent guest at the White House under
Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton.
In an article entitled "The CIA’s Dope Smuggling ‘Freedom Fighters,’"
published in December 1998, Meldon explains how the CIA’s ties to
the Cuban-American mafia and its drug traffickers originated with the
1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, for which the CIA trained hundreds of
Cuban exiles in addition to seeking out the worst of Havana’s
gangster elements from the ’50s who had taken refuge in the United
States.
A top-secret element of the invasion plan was Operation 40, whose
personnel included Posada Carriles; Felipe de Diego, a former
commercial representative in Cuba of Firestone Tire and Rubber and
future Watergate burglar; Félix Rodríguez, later head of covert
operations and drug trafficker for the Nicaraguan contras; and
various henchman identified by the mafia. That parallel force was to
enter the island clandestinely as the invasion was under way, in order
to carry out various actions aimed at destabilizing the Revolution.
After the invasion’s spectacular failure, the CIA continued to utilize
elements of Operation 40 for various covert missions, until in 1970 a
small aircraft used by the group crashed in Southern California with
several kilos of cocaine and heroin on board............

[9215]

16. Finally got the article. The group going

to Washington is the Cuban Liberty Council. A spinoff of the infamous CANF mentioned above.

http://www.canfnet.org/News/archived/020401newsa.htm

[Judi Lynn]

19. Thanks for the information

It's interesting learning that Ninoska Pérez Castellón is currently the spokescritter for the Cuban Liberty Council. It wasn't that long ago she was an official insult-hurler for the Cuban American National Foundation.

What a delightful person. You may remember seeing her on tv, night after night after night, on all the cable news shows telling Americans where they should head in on the Elián dispute. I saw her get right in the face of a reporter once, in front of the Gonzalez house, shouting "There is no Cuban Mafia."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(snip) Miami not so virtuous

I also have trouble imagining Miami as an area of sweeping democratization. One should remember the report a few years ago, published by Americas Watch, significantly the only one it has published on human rights abuses in the United States. It condemned the tactics of intimidation and harassment of anyone in Miami who sought a policy of dialogue with the Castro government. Bombs were planted, opponents killed, and reputations destroyed.

Ackerman would have us believe that things have changed drastically. I wonder. Early in March of 1997 Andy Montañez, a Puerto Rican salsa singer was banned from performing in the Festival de la Calle 8, in the heart of Miami's Cuban district. He had been invited to sing and had a contract to do so. Two weeks earlier he had welcomed Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez to Puerto Rico, and had given him an embrace on stage. For the festival organizers back in Little Havana this was too much and he was asked not to come. In an editorial published in the Miami Herald on March 13, Lisa Versaci, a local arts coordinator, wrote, "We're living in a city where intimidation, whether real or perceived, has the same chilling effect."

Ackerman does not pay enough attention to the dynamic of hostility, wrapped in a "take no prisoners" approach (found both sides of the Florida straits) and cloaked in rabid anti-Castroism that exists in Miami. Ninoska Pérez Castellón, a radio personality and spokeswoman for the conservative Cuban-American National Foundation, phones government offices in Cuba and interviews unsuspecting functionaries, seeking to embarrass them. Some of these calls are later played on the air. In March, she tracked down the Foreign Minister in Brazil at the residence of the Cuban ambassador. When she got the Minister on the phone, she berated him. "I'm calling to show that I'm capable of bringing you to the phone. That you are a clown, and to tell you to put an end to repression in Cuba." (snip)

http://www.peacemagazine.org/fulltext/all-vol13no3.html

[9215]

33. This part: "There is no Cuban Mafia"

Now that is denial working in high gear.

The harassment of the author of the article "Meldon" is also stated in the above link I provided.

One Cuban Liberty Council spokesperson Alberto Hernandez who is interviewed in the Miami Herald article was Jorge Mas's doctor. He also was previous chairman of CANF.

IMO the Cuban Liberty Council (sounds alot like the racist Liberty Lobby)was created for similar reasons Limbaugh changed his name to Jeff Christie: to avoid the uncomfortable truths of the past.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/posada/posada9.htm


Wouldn't it be something if someone in the media did an expose' on the past of some of these people.

[Say_What]

34. Last time someone tried to expose the congress/canf connection

they were sued. It was former Cuban Interests Section diplomat Wayne Smith--he won, but as a private citizen it must have cost him plenty. But things might be different today.

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/98-3NRfall98/Nichols_SLAPP.html

The book Cuba Confidential details a LOT about all the Cuba topics/characters we're discussing and is a valuable source for information. It's written by the same woman who wrote the expose about the Possada/CANF connection in the NYTs.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/071298cuba-plot.html

[Say_What]

27. How about the one of Bush and Che's assassin in the WH??

<>

<http://www.noveltynet.org/content/paranormal/www.parascope.com/ds/papertrail/papertrail0498.htm#bush>

[9215]

38. Thanks. I wonder if Felix was involved in JfK

hit??

[Say_What]

39. The book

Deadly Secrets: The Cia-Mafia War Against Castro and the Assassination of J.F.K.

has a wealth of informtion about the CIA's role in his death. This book details the actions of the Bushies, exiles, mafia, and the never ending war against the island. Fascinating reading if you haven't read it already.

Here's what Stud's Turkell had to say about the book:



http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1560250534.01._PE_PIdp-schmoo2,TopRight,7,-26_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[Osolomia]

6. Ditto. Who are this extremist tiny minority

and why are the leading 2004 Democratic presidential candidates and their brainwashed supporteres still pandering to the minority while ignoring the bipartisan majority?

[Judi Lynn]

21. Here's a kick in the pants

In Miami, free speech is selective

Anti-Castro passion in Little Havana has history of drowning out opposing views.

Warren Richey
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

MIAMI

The heated custody battle over Elian Gonzalez is shining a bright light on the Cuban-American community in Little Havana.

Television images beamed around the world show a community passionate about the welfare of the six-year-old boy - a tight-knit neighborhood in almost universal agreement that the child should stay with his Miami relatives to enjoy freedoms guaranteed by the US Constitution.

But those same television cameras have opened a window to a darker side of Little Havana. Critics say those who disagree with the hard-line opinions of Cuban-exile leaders routinely face intimidation, threats of violence, or outright censorship.

Two weeks ago, police arrested a seventh-grade social studies teacher after, he says, he spat on the ground and told the spokesman for the boy's Miami relatives that "Elian should go home."

The spokesman went to the police, who led Matt Heidenfeld away in handcuffs and charged him with disorderly conduct, punishable by up to 60 days in jail. "I have absolutely no problem with Cuban-Americans or anyone standing up for what they believe in, but I should also have the right to stand up for what I believe in," Mr. Heidenfeld says.

Earlier this week, a single protester arrived in front of the house where scores of Cuban-American demonstrators have maintained an Elian Gonzalez vigil for several months. He carried a poster that read: "Send Elian Home."

Within moments, the young man was lifted off his feet by angry "pro-Elian" demonstrators. Some carried him down the street, while others ripped his sign into small pieces. (snip/...)

http://search.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/04/21/p1s3.htm


Forming the highly vaunted "human chain" around the Gonzales' house

[Mika]

2. Get ready for more lies and crackdowns on Americans

From the lead article

The Bush administration has said Cuba policy is under review, but no new announcements have been made.

It is not known what role a new presidential commission would play.

What role? More false WMD accusations maybe?

Maybe more millions of our tax dollars to circumvent the movement towards trade normalization (read: jobs) made by 38 states and Cuba in the last year?

Maybe more taxpayer paid crackdowns on 2nd class Americans who wish to travel to Cuba, while 1st class "exiles" have been free to go all along?

[Say_What]

5. 'new presidential commission'

to destabilize and incite the overthrow of a sovereign nation.

Even the dissidents (not the paid-by-US seditionists) in Cuba say that the US ought to stay out of Cuba's business. Paya said it when he met with Powell in Washington a number of months back.

[Osolomia]

7. Why isn't Paya in jail if even Dem Party propaganda is to be believed?

Hmmmm!

[Osolomia]

9. Announcements have been made!!!

Read Roger Noriega’s and Larson’s statements from the State Dept. in the past week and posted here on DU! Not to mention LIEberman (D) etc., etc., etc. !

As but one example noted in a recent thread, Bush announced via Noriega and Larson, that he has tightened travel and trade restrictions against American-Americans and is increasing enforcement of them while throwing the door wide open to Cuban-American “exiles” to travel and trade and do whatever the hell they want in Cuba while American-Americans are still fed blatant lies and bullshit and aren’t free to see for themselves for many more years to come at this rate.

Rather revealing under the circumstances that not one single DUer at university or college took advantage of the many educational exchanges to Cuba this year while they were still among the very few American-Americans who had a chance to see for themselves before Bush’s ban on even this much takes effect. What a shame! Now what? Apathetic, ignorant and arrogant Dems have no one to blame but themselves imho.

[Judi Lynn]

22. More crackdowns, you betcha. This one is especially petty

State Department won't allow Rodriguez to travel from Washington for conference

10/10/03

By GEORGE TALBOT
Business Reporter


Cuba's top U.S. diplomat was denied permission by the U.S. Department of State to travel this week to Alabama, where he was scheduled to attend a conference highlighting ties between Mobile and Havana, according to organizers of the event.

Dagoberto Rodriguez, the Chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., accepted an invitation last spring to speak at the Society Mobile-La Habana's 10th anniversary celebration, which begins today in Mobile. The society is a fraternal organization that promotes cultural exchanges between Mobile and Havana.

Society members said they were notified by the State Department earlier this week that Rodriguez's travel application had been denied. A spokesman for the organization said he was "disappointed, but not surprised" by the decision. (snip)

(snip) Eighteen U.S. cities have followed Mobile's example and established fraternal relationships with Cuban cities; another 30 are pending, according to the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association.

"We've inched a little closer every year, but the progress hasn't been made at a regular pace," said Jay Higginbotham, a Mobile historian and founder of the society. "It's one step back for every two steps forward, but there's no question we're further along today than we were 10 years ago." (snip/...)

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/106577739239750.xml

[Say_What]

25. I read this earlier today. More petty politics by the Bushistas

.

[Say_What]

8. Meanwhile back on the farm...

farmers and ag people continue to say f*ck you to politics as usual in Washington.

<clips>

Recent sale to Cuba raises Iowans' hopes about trade

The recent sale of $8 million in corn and soybeans to Cuba is an example of the potential to increase trade between the island nation and Iowa, a group of Iowa officials who signed a trade-promotion agreement last week with Cuban officials said Wednesday.

Teresa Wahlert, president of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, one of the participants at the ceremony in Cuba last week, said the agreement is part of an effort by business leaders to increase Iowa exports to Cuba.

"We have a competitive advantage over European and Asian countries because we are closer to Cuba," she said.

Don Mason of the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, who also was on the trip, said Cuba represents a potential market of $44 million to Iowa.

http://desmoinesregister.com/business/stories/c4789013/22451919.html

[Judi Lynn]

10. Iowa's close to a great step forward, just like Texas, and many others

From your article:

Another participant in the Cuba trip, state Sen. Nancy Boettger, R-Harlan, said a resolution calling for the lifting of the U.S. government's trade embargo on Cuba is pending in the Iowa Legislature.

The Texas Legislature did this the very YEAR _Bush left Texas to become the pResident.

Seeing Iowa intends to sell a lot of corn to Cuba, I'd like to leave this list of things which can be produced from corn starch and dextrose! You won't believe it until you read it:

http://www.ilcorn.org/Corn_Products/Corn_Products_Brochure/BrochFrnt/brochfrnt.html

Here's a copy of the truly impressive Texas Resolution to remove the U.S. embargo on Cuba:


TRANSCRIPTION OF THE TEXAS STATE LEGISLATURE’S RESOLUTION CALLING FOR THE REMOVAL OF TRADE, FINANCIAL, AND TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS RELATING TO CUBA

Passed by both houses May 23, 2001


77R14819 ELG-D
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The relationship between the United States and Cuba has long been marked by tension and confrontation; further heightening this hostility is the 40-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the island nation that remains the longest-standing embargo in modern history; and


WHEREAS, Cuba imports nearly a billion dollars' worth of food every year, including approximately 1,100,000 tons of wheat, 420,000 tons of rice, 37,000 tons of poultry, and 60,000 tons of dairy products; these amounts are expected to grow significantly in coming years as Cuba slowly recovers from the severe economic recession it has endured following the withdrawal of subsidies from the former Soviet Union in the last decade; and


WHEREAS, Agriculture is the second-largest industry in Texas, and this state ranks among the top five states in overall value of agricultural exports at more than $3 billion annually; thus, Texas is ideally positioned to benefit from the market opportunities that free trade with Cuba would provide; rather than depriving Cuba of agricultural products, the U.S. embargo succeeds only in driving sales to competitors in other countries that have no such restrictions; and


WHEREAS, In recent years, Cuba has developed important pharmaceutical products, namely, a new meningitis B vaccine that has virtually eliminated the disease in Cuba; such products have the potential to protect Americans against diseases that continue to threaten large populations around the world; and


WHEREAS, Cuba's potential oil reserves have attracted the interest of numerous other countries who have been helping Cuba develop its existing wells and search for new reserves; Cuba's oil output has increased more than 400 percent over the last
decade; and


WHEREAS, The United States' trade, financial, and travel restrictions against Cuba hinder Texas' export of agricultural and food products, its ability to import critical energy products, the treatment of illnesses experienced by Texans, and the right of Texans to travel freely; now, therefore, be it


RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to consider the removal of trade, financial, and travel restrictions relating to Cuba; and, be it further


RESOLVED, That the Texas Secretary of State forward official copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to the Congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.

http://www.texascuba.com/

[Osolomia]

11. What we choose to ignore won't hurt us eh?

Year after year after year, Dem presidential election campaign after election after election, world wide condemnation after condemnation after condemnation. Nah, ignorance and megalomania by Dean's Dem party is a ok eh? What a shame!

[Judi Lynn]

17. Spanish No. 1 in Hialeah, Miami (93% non-English)

Posted on Thu, Oct. 09, 2003

CENSUS
Spanish No. 1 in Hialeah, Miami
More than nine out of 10 people in Hialeah speak a foreign language. In Miami, it's 75 percent. Spanish is the top language in both cities.
BY TIM HENDERSON
[e-mail]


More than nine out of 10 people in Hialeah, where Spanish is arguably the language of choice, speak a foreign language, placing it No. 1 among U.S. cities with more than 100,000 residents, according to a U.S. Census survey released Wednesday.

About 93 percent of Hialeah's 228,000 residents speak a language other than English. (snip)

(snip) Ruby Canizales came to Miami from Colombia 17 years ago but has never thought it necessary to learn English.
''Why, if everybody here speaks Spanish?'' said Canizales, who lives in Little Havana with her husband and two children. ``Maybe if I move to another state, I'll have to learn, but here there's no problem.''

Even in regions of the country with high numbers of Latinos, including immigrants, speaking only Spanish can have negative connotations, some experts said.

''In Miami-Dade, Spanish is not associated with poverty the way it is in Southern California,'' said Thomas Boswell, a University of Miami professor who studies immigrant trends. ``Much of our Hispanic population has come from the upper and middle classes -- that's the nature of the Cuban revolution, and also the fact that you can't be poor and come here from places like Venezuela and Colombia. It costs a lot to fly here and you can't float here on a raft or wade over the border like you can in Mexico.'' (snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6966003.htm

Someone should have told this beanbag that hundreds die annually trying to make it from Mexico to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

[Mika]

23. All other illegal immigrants are deported (when caught)

"Someone should have told this beanbag that hundreds die annually trying to make it from Mexico to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California."


Illegal immigrants are forced into the underground economy, and if they are caught in the US they are deported.

Not Cuban illegal immigrants. Not Cuban illegals with felony records. -- They get to stay, AND get a full compliment of perks (like green cards, instant work visas, instant sec 8 housing, etc). Illegals made instantly legal despite the fact that many lack legal immigration qualifications, thanks to the political pandering to the "exile" extremists.

The rest of the immigrant population, as well as American who desire freedom to travel to Cuba, are subject to crackdowns by US government jackboot thugs.


By US law, Cubans are the most special class of American residents/resident aliens/naturalized citizens in America right now.

[9215]

18. Posada: "I'll kill Castro if it's the last thing I do"

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/146.html

[Say_What]

26. The Assasination Geezers

currently chillin' in a Panamanian jail, CANF is trying to spring them. A search on those other names turns up many interesting facts as well such as the involvement in the assasination of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in Washington DC in 1975 (second article).

<clips>
Cuban Exiles Fundraise For Defense Of Terrorist, 1/01

The Spanish language news agency EFE reported on December 15 from Miami that Cuban exiles in that city participated in a radio marathon to raise funds for the legal defense of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and another 3 henchmen arrested with him in Panama.

Posada Carriles, Guillermo Novo, Pedro Remon Posada, and Gaspar Jimenez were arrested in the Panamanian capital on November 17 after Cuban intelligence notified Panamanian police of a plot by the four men to assassinate President Fidel Castro Ruz during the X Ibero American Summit.

"We are going to free the four compatriots and will not allow that a crime of this nature be committed against them" swore Armando Perez Roura, director of Radio Mambi (WAQI-AM) in Miami.

According to Roura, "the accusation is the pure invention of a regime that uses all of its resources to make lying accusations against its enemies".

The goal of the radio marathon is to collect $200,000, organizer Santiago Alvarez told EFE. He added that the "success of the marathon has been complete: the calls are constant and the pledges are very encouraging".

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/posada-arrested.htm

---

<clips>
The Assasination Geezers

Twenty two years ago, in the hallway of the Washington DC Federal Court Building, Guillermo Novo threatened me. So, when I read that on November 18, 2000 Panamanian cops had arrested him on an assassination charge, I felt the pleasant tingle of relief. Novo has reached the age--mid sixties--where his back goes out more than he does. Yet, instead of starting their own anti-Castro AARP chapter, he and three other rabidly Cuban geriatrics went to Panama to whack Cuba's president. The Cuban leader went to Panama for an Iberian Summit in the Fall of 2000 and Cuban security agents tipped off the Panamanians to search the car the group had rented. It contained 30 pounds of explosives and appropriate detonating material plus fingerprints that matched some of the defendants.

The four men (Guillermo, Luis Posada Carriles, Pedro Remon and Gaspar Jimenez) claim that Fidel had set them up for a frame. Their lawyers argued that the ever wily Fidel lured them to Panama because he knew that these old geezers shared common obsessions: they had all sworn to kill him and had participated in previous assassinations. They justified their lethal deeds as necessary steps in their holy war against the Caribbean demon.

Guillermo Novo reminds me of Jason or Freddy, except that his violence took place in real life and not in movies. I remember the cold chill of that morning in the courthouse hall in 1981. An appeals court had reversed on procedural grounds his conviction for eight counts of conspiracy to assassinate Orlando Letelier. At the new trial, the jury had just acquitted him and co-defendant Alvin Ross of conspiracy charges (Letelier, a former Ambassador and Cabinet Minister in the government of Salvador Allende, died along with Ronni Moffitt, his colleague at the Institute for Policy Studies, when a bomb planted under his car exploded on September 21, 1976).

The jury had also acquitted Ignacio Novo, Guillermo's younger brother, of aiding and abetting the conspiracy. The panel did convict Guillermo of lying to the grand jury about his knowledge of the murder plot. The judge ruled, however, that he had already served the time he would have been given.

http://www.counterpunch.org/landau09202003.html

[Judi Lynn]

20. Friday installment of Say_What's story, from Miami

Posted on Fri, Oct. 10, 2003

Bush seeking ideas for regime change in Cuba
GEORGE GEDDA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Eager to please a key Florida constituency, President Bush is asking top aides to produce recommendations for achieving a transition to democracy in Cuba after 44 years of communist rule.

A small group of advisers, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, are being asked to provide advice on hastening what the administration calls the "inevitable democratic transition in Cuba."

Administration officials said Thursday night that Bush planned to spell out his ideas in a Rose Garden ceremony Friday morning.

"The president will talk about ways in which we can keep up the pressure on the Castro regime," said one official, asking not to be identified. (snip)

(snip) Florida, a vote-rich swing state, is one of the states Bush has visited most since becoming president. The votes of Miami's Cuban-American community could be crucial in the 2004 presidential election. (snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/6981457.htm

_{Why can Bush use Miami like a piggy bank? Isn't he forgetting something, like the AMERICAN PEOPLE? We Americans support, by a majority, LOSING THE EMBARGO, NOW! Bush doesn't understand the world does NOT belong to him and his right-wing knuckledraggers.}

[Say_What]

28. Bush seeking ideas for regime change in Cuba

announcement to be made in the Rose Garden this morning. :puke:

<clips>

Eager to please a key Florida constituency, President Bush is asking top aides to produce recommendations for achieving a transition to democracy in Cuba after 44 years of communist rule.

A small group of advisers, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, are being asked to provide advice on hastening what the administration calls the "inevitable democratic transition in Cuba."

Administration officials said Thursday night that Bush planned to spell out his ideas in a Rose Garden ceremony Friday morning.

"The president will talk about ways in which we can keep up the pressure on the Castro regime," said one official, asking not to be identified.

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/10/09/national0242EDT0436.DTL>

[loudnclear]

29. Cuban exiles, Iraqi exiles...aren't you tired of using your money

and shedding the blood of your children to fight the battles that they were too cowardly to fight. Why don't they all just go back home and overthrow the governments they don't like?

Iraq, Israel, Cuban exiles...America has become nothing more than an army of mercernaries for their purposes.

[Mika]

30. Not to mention the innocent lives lost at the hands of US policies

"Cuban exiles, Iraqi exiles...aren't you tired of using your money and shedding the blood of your children to fight the battles that they were too cowardly to fight."


You haven't seen anything like the level of the corruption of the anti Cuba/Castro industry here in Miami.



Welcome to the "insane pro Cuba crowd", loudnclear.

[Matilda]

42. I guess they would mostly be friends of Batista, right?

I know life in Cuba isn't a bed of roses, but the majority chose Castro because under Batista only the crims did well, and Cuba was
the Mafia holiday camp. So I guess that most of the people who chose to leave would have been allied to the Batista regime in some way.

Presumably Bush is choosing to reinstate the Mafia as Cuba's rulers,
whether the people want that or not.

[Say_What]

43. Reinstating the Miami Mafia has ALWAYS been the goal

just ask dead Jorge Mas Canosa former founder and head of the CANF. He aspired to being president of Cuba and employed methods of intimidation, murder, bombing, and other acts of terrorism to maintain the hard line against Cuba. This guy took out a contract on his own brother!! Mas Canosa and the CANF terrorist group along with more anti-Cuba fanatics are all nicely detailed in the book Cuba Confidential by Ann Louise Bardach who has been going to and writing about the island for more than 10 years.

Meanwhile here's some info on the NED funded CANF and their Congress connections.

<clips>

A panel of judges in Florida's Third District Court of Appeals is now considering the case of an outspoken retired diplomat who is seeking not only personal justice but also is fighting for a fundamental principle of democracy against an organization that seems bent on destroying free speech in the United States under the guise of establishing it in Cuba. While Smith vs. Cuban American National Foundation appears to be a routine defamation case in which Wayne S. Smith, former head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, is appealing a Miami jury's verdict against him, it actually is a complex web involving bare-knuckle Washington politics, an article in a national opinion magazine, and ultimately the First Amendment.

The combatants in the case are long-standing political adversaries in the contentious debate over U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba. In one corner is the Cuban American National Foundation, a tax-exempt foundation that represents the interests of the right wing of the Cuban exile community and is a strident opponent of the government of Fidel Castro. The late Jorge Mas Canosa, CANF's founder and chairman until his death from cancer earlier this year, was a veteran Castro hater who aspired to be the next president of Cuba. With the substantial financial backing from other wealthy exiled businessmen and a willingness to brand opponents as Communist sympathizers, Mas Canosa and his organization became feared and effective players in the corridors of power in Washington. The controversial Mas Canosa and other foundation leaders frequently appeared in the media or testified before congressional committees advocating tough measures against the Castro regime and have been extraordinarily successful in pushing both Republican and Democratic administrations to strengthen the U.S economic embargo on Cuba. Their goal, they contend, is to bring freedom and democracy to their homeland.

Equally vocal is Wayne Smith, formerly head of the Cuban desk at the State Department and of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba until he retired from the foreign service in 1982, disgruntled with the Reagan Administration's confrontational approach to dealing with the Castro government. Smith, who now teaches at The Johns Hopkins University and is a fellow in a Washington think tank, the Center for International Policy, has since become a leading critic of U.S. policy toward Cuba and especially CANF's influence on that policy. He often writes for major newspapers and appears on television skewering Washington policymakers, Mas Canosa and others who he believes are blocking a rational dialogue over the Cuban problem.

That outspokenness is what got him in trouble, at least with Mas Canosa. in 1992 Smith was interviewed by filmmakers from the University of West Florida for a documentary titled "Campaign for Cuba," which aired on PBS that year. Smith's statements on that program formed the basis of CANF's lawsuit against him. In a 20-second sound bite, he summarized an article by John Spicer Nichols that appeared in The Nation in 1988. The article, titled "Cuba: The Congress; The Power of the Anti-Fidel Lobby," reported that the National Endowment for Democracy, a quasi-governmental institute that funnels U.S. tax dollars to projects intended to support democracy abroad, signed contracts with CANF from 1983-1988 awarding the foundation grants totalling $390,000 for the purpose of supporting a European organization also seeking to marshal opposition to the Castro government.

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/98-3NRfall98/Nichols_SLAPP.html

[Judi Lynn]

44. Here's more on the Cuban American National Foundation attack

on former head of the U.S. Interest Section in Cuba:

(snip) The Center for International Policy stands fully behind Wayne Smith in his ongoing legal battle with the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF). The CANF claims a statement made by Dr. Smith in a 1992 documentary entitled "Campaign for Cuba" defamed them. Smith says his statement was accurate and based on the previous research and writings of others. What this is really about, however, is an effort on the part of the CANF to silence Smith, long regarded by them as one of their strongest critics. As evidence of this, the CANF is not suing PBS or the producers of the documentary, both of whom verified Smith's statement and made the decision to put the documentary on the air. Indeed, a CANF officer, Mr. Jose R. Cardenas, stated to the documentary's executive producer, Dr. Churchill Roberts, when the two met at a conference in 1993 and the latter asked about the CANF's threats to sue, "don't worry; Wayne Smith is the one we are after. We have no intention of suing you." (Note: The Center has Dr. Robert's affidavit to that effect.)

Even so, CANF Chairman Jorge Mas Canosa's ultimate target is the press itself. Speaking just after a Miami jury on August 9 found in favor of the CANF, Mr. Mas described the jury's decision as "a defeat for the liberal press, which over many years has given legitimacy to the regime of Fidel Castro." (Mr. Mas' usual contention is that anyone who criticizes him is on Castro's side.) "The message of the verdict was clear," Mas went on: "They cannot go on defaming the exile community and the Foundation....The will of God has prevailed rather than that of men."

Mas vowed to continue a lawsuit against The New Republic and then possibly to initiate proceedings against The Miami Herald. Indeed, he said, he suspected there were "serious links" between the two publications.

The CANF's suit against Wayne Smith, then, is part and parcel with its attacks on The Miami Herald, which Mas says is communist in orientation, and on various other publications. It is part of its efforts to deny freedom of expression to those who disagree with CANF. (snip/...)

~~~~ link ~~~~

Even though Miami lost an enormous @$$#### when Jorge Mas Canosa died, they STILL have an endless supply total @$$####$.

[Say_What]

45. Great article. It went right into my Cuba file

This would be great to mail to the presidential candidates who pander to these a$$holes, but then they're on the receiving end of the deal so that wouldn't make any impact.

From the article:

...As Smith points out, since he indicated the money was given through the PAC, he was imputing no criminal activity to the CANF. Indeed, as he had read Nichols closely, he did not believe there had been any. Rather, in alluding to a connection between the money received from the NED and the campaign contributions made by the PAC, he, like Nichols, was referring to the facts that the one was almost exactly the same amount as the other, and that as money is fungible, windfalls received for one purpose free up monies to be used for others. While Smith felt there was nothing criminal involved, he, like Nichols, believed there was something questionable about the grants and campaign contributions. At the very least, there was an appearance of conflict of interest on Fascell's part. It was for that reason that he raised the matter in the interview. He had every right to do so under the First Amendment.

...But meanwhile also, the atmosphere of intolerance has thickened in Miami. The Centro Vasco restaurant was recently fire-bombed because a singer who has not denounced Castro was to perform there. Marazul, a charter company that arranges for Cuban-Americans to visit families on the island, was also fire-bombed. Hardliners tried to prevent a concert by a young Cuban pianist living in the Dominican Republic because he too had not formally denounced Castro. Unable to block his performance, they attacked those going in to hear, in some cases knocking them to the ground, kicking and spitting on them and calling them "Communists." Miami city officials did nothing.

It is time to say enough to this intolerance. This is the United States of America, where all have the right to hold and express widely differing views. That is a central concept of democracy -- and a concept which neither Fidel Castro nor Jorge Mas Canosa seem capable of grasping.

[guajira]

31. Announcement soon from Rose Garden -So far Powell & Martinez named

News this AM is that the WH Cuba group will be led by Powell and Mel Martinez.

Martinez is head of HUD and was formerly head of Orange County (Orlando) Fla. He is the "exile" who brought Elian to DisneyWorld to ride in a little boat just days after the child was rescued from the ocean!! Then shortly after the B* election, Martinez (then Sec'ry of HUD) went to Miami to speak to Miami Latin Builders and give them $30,000,000.00 in grants - to thank them for voting for B*.

This is a real bad bunch, and have no compassion for Cubans on the island (except for their own relatives), and will stop at nothing to keep American businesses and American travelers from ever stepping foot onto the island of Cuba!!!

[guajira]

32. I Knew It!!! -- B* is cracking down on AMERICANS right to travel!!!

It's extremely important for Americans to contact all Senators and let them know you are sick and tired of Miami Cubans running US foreign policy - and that we want FREEDOM TO TRAVEL AND TRADE restored to us NOW!!!!

[Say_What]

35. Link to the White House news articles and State Department

announcement should be posted here later and probably at the state department as well

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2003/c10523.htm

[Say_What]

36. White House remarks on the Rose Garden speech

at this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=159794

On edit: fix link

[Judi Lynn]

41. Argentina re-establishes links with Cuba!

Monday, 13 October 2003
Search News:

Mercosur
Monday, 13 October


De-freezing of relations with Cuba.



For the first time in fourteen years an Argentine Foreign Affairs minister visited Cuba for 48 hours to re-establish full diplomatic relations and as a clear sign of “political willingness from both governments to give a greater thrust to the bilateral relationship”.


Argentine Foreign Minister Bielsa
and cuban Felipe Perez Roque
Mr. Rafael Bielsa travelled with Argentina’s new Ambassador Raul Taeb who will be presenting his credentials to Fidel Castro in the coming hours.

Cuban-Argentine relations were virtually frozen since February 2001 when Mr. Castro called the then Argentine administration of President Fernando De la Rúa, “yanki boot lickers” for having supported a United Nations human rights abuse condemnation of the Cuban regime.

However the situation begun to improve last April when former president Eduardo Duhalde, contrary to Mr. De la Rúa and Mr. Menem, decided to abstain in a vote on human rights involving Cuba. A month later Fidel Castro visited Buenos Aires to participate in the taking office ceremonies of elected president Nestor Kirchner, where he was “warmly received” by the Argentine people and government, according to the official Cuban newspaper Granma.

The Argentine government said the good will visit expresses the “wish to normalize relations and relaunch economic, trade and cultural relations with Cuba. (snip/...)

http://www.falkland-malvinas.com/Detalle.asp?NUM=2720